Could International Be In Trouble?

[Steve Frazier]

Since electronic controls began to be used in heavy trucks it seems International has been having trouble with the reliability of the units used in their trucks. I've been hearing increasingly bad reports of the repair rate on vocational trucks and am seeing them lose market share here in my area. One neighboring town has switched from International to Freightliner with their highway department trucks, as has the town I live in. The town I work for has switched from International to Mack on their latest trucks. The mechanic there is fed up with the repair rate on International with turbos going bad, brake systems malfunctioning and other electrical gremlins plaguing the trucks. The two local school districts ordered the newest batch of buses on Freightliner chassis where before they were exclusively International. And just this past week I saw a dump truck company that has run International trucks as long as I can remember running a new Peterbilt dump.

Are you seeing the same trend in other parts of the country? I think International has reorganized twice already, could these problems bring damage to the company?

 

[Truck Shop]

The Max Force engine is a real problem. Food Service of America have a bunch of them and can't keep them running. Other than some small repairs
I won't let one in the shop. There problem rate is real high plus Internationals are worse than most to work on.

Truck Shop

 

[Goodysnap]

I would say that I am seeing the same trend in my area as well. The list of engines with repeat failures is quite long. I didn't really mind working on the pre 2000 era stuff. I wouldn't touch their newer stuff with a 1000 ft pole. Still got an old S-series manual DT in a plow truck that never misses a beat every winter. From what I've seen they seem to be switching over to Cummins as their main source for power. Gonna be a tuff sell for anything new that's blue ......Fords dropped em ....CAT too.... what's left?

 

[Steve Frazier]

It's interesting that yesterday I received an email from International stating that they've revamped their website and it's all new. They also claim to build the best commercial trucks on the road. I think what I'm seeing in real life tells a different story. It's a shame, International Harvester was about the most popular truck in my area for a long long time.